History

Trey was eight years old when The Grateful Dead composed this daunting musical pairing. But with its time signature trickery and snaking melodies, “Help/Slip” may be the most Phishy sounding piece of music in the Dead’s repertoire, so it seems natural that the band chose to cover it in an early gig at Hunt’s.

With precious few exceptions, the Dead’s live renditions of “Help/Slip” dropped neatly into “Franklin’s Tower” (see the band’s One From The Vault release for the flawless and inspiring 1975 debut of the entire suite). Phish’s only known reading of “Help/Slip,”on the other hand, features some intensely creative jamming before plummeting into “AC/DC Bag.”

Though Phish hasn’t revisited “Help/Slip,” Page and Trey accompanied Phil Lesh & Friends on a wickedly melodic version at the Warfield on 4/16/99. To no one’s surprise, “Franklin’s Tower” (and not “AC/DC Bag”) followed. Trey has performed the "Help/Slip/Franklin's" trifecta with Lesh and his varying lineup no less than four times since.

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The Mockingbird Foundation

The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.

And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed over $1,000,000 to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.